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Pataskala mayor talks policing, development with Methodist Men

Pataskala Mayor Mike Compton was the featured speaker at the Jan. 19 Sunday morning gathering of the Pataskala United Methodist Church Men, held at the Nutcracker Family Restaurant.(Photo: Craig McDonald/The Advocate)

Every third Sunday morning, Pastor Terry Sager of the Pataskala United Methodist Church and the United Methodist Men meet to share breakfast and discuss projects and topics of interest.

On the chilly morning of Jan. 19, the Methodist Men discussed a project to address the accessibility needs of a South High Street resident soon to return home from the hospital.

They were also treated to a sort of informal “State of the City” address from Pataskala Mayor Mike Compton.

Much of the mayor’s presentation over eggs, bacon, toast and coffee focused on policing and an upcoming ballot issue to better fund police services, as well as development and infrastructure improvements.

“I always ask the directors this time of year to give me facts and figures, so I can work on the State of the City address that I brought back when I became mayor,” Compton said.

In advance of that formal presentation to come, Compton previewed some of the 2020 objectives to be focused on in the near-term.

The mayor said he was expecting word any day from the state regarding “verbiage for our half-percent tax increase to fund our police department.”

“We’re constantly losing people to other communities—Reynoldsburg, Heath, Hebron, Columbus and the Licking County Sheriff since the economy started going in the right direction again,” he said.

Currently, the city has a one-percent income tax that generates about $6 million and strictly funds streets and police.

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Police needs, infrastructure and development were among the topics covered Jan. 19 at the monthly meeting of the United Methodist Men.(Photo: Craig McDonald/The Advocate)

“We’re going to ask for half-a-percent so that, one, we can get more officers, and two, get them more pay. We’re coming to be known around here as a kind of revolving door right now.”

“The FBI says we should have at least six or seven officers on the road, and we have about two and a supervisor now, which is not good,” Compton told the Methodist Men.

“We require two guys to go to any domestic call because there can be two people struggling, so that can tie up everything. For a city of 30 square miles, we just need more officers.”

While the FBI standard might be out of reach, Compton said he hopes with voter passage of the tax issue in March 17, “We’d like to see three or four officers on the road. We don’t think six or seven is that achievable, that quickly.”

Last year, Compton said, “We had almost 10,000 calls, and of course we assist other departments. Our K-9 division helps out every surrounding municipality if they need a dog, and we’re well-known for that.”

Compton also said he had just appointed “an ad hoc committee” to search for new city administrator following the recent announcement current administrator B.J. King has accepted that same position with the city of Groveport.

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Several of the Methodist Men posed questions about development, road widening, sidewalks and crosswalks.

The mayor pointed to a recently implemented “moratorium on buildings” set to expire in a few months that was put in place to allow the city to establish development impact fees and tighten building standards.

“The market for what people want now-a-days is changing,” Compton said. “There are a lot more baby boomers and millennials who don’t want houses with basements and big yards. It’s just changing the building industry.

“We’re working on design standards,” the mayor continued. “I’d have to say, in the late-eighties, early-nineties, a couple subdivisions slipped in here, and they’re crappy houses, to be honest with you, so we have some neighborhoods that are in decline. We want quality houses, nice lots, and also, as we head in that direction, we’re trying to work with the developers.”

The impact fees, he said, are also driven by some past bad experiences with developers who failed to hold up their end as agreed to with officials.

“We’ve had developers who went bankrupt and didn’t complete their end of the bargain… Water pipes, sewers, road repair, lights…all things the city had to end up paying for to complete a subdivision.”

The envisioned impact fees the city is working to shape “leans more toward infrastructure, roads, traffic lights, roundabouts and turn lanes,” Compton said. “If you’re going to bring 100 houses to Pataskala, you’re going to have to help us out. We’re kind of a town of two lanes roads.”